Orbit rain sensor and rain delay

[ottorino]

Hi all,
I’m experimenting with a rain sensor and the rain delay and I have some questions.

My rain sensor is this one
http://www.orbitonline.com/products/sprinkler-systems/accessories/sensors/rain-and-freeze-wired/rainfreeze-sensorhard-wired

It contains an orange substance that swells upon contact with water. When it swells, the pressure open a contact which is detected by OS.

The sensor is provided – at its bottom – with an adjustable vent: its opening and closing allows the orange material to dry more or less rapidly, thus providing a variable delay in starting the next irrigation session.
In other words, when the switch change its state from open to closed, it allows the irrigation to start again.

Then there is the OS, in which I can set the rain delay.

Here in Florence, Italy, this very night we had a storm at about 2:00 GMT (september, 09, 4:00 local time), when I was suddenly awaked by lightinings and thunders.

This morning, september 10, at about 6:00 GMT I verified that OS has detected rain (sensors sensibly swelled and switch opened)
If I set the rain delay to 1 hour, the app says back that the rain delay will be effective until september, 09, 23:59 local time, 21:59GMT which is somehow useless.
If I set 24h as rain delay, it will be effective until sept,10 22:59 local time, 20:59 GMT, if I set it to 48h …..etc. It works as expected.

Is this particular rain sensor, with “intrinsic delay” unsuitable for OS ?

Does the OS record only when the switch change from open to closed state and not the reverse ?

[Samer]

I think your asking two separate questions at the same time.

You discuss rain delay and what seems like a timezone issue but then you ask if rain sensor detects the reverse state.

First, based on what you said, there is a timezone issue setting the rain delay. I’ll check it out (this is also causing TechFan to see the wrong day in preview page after a certain hour).

Second, yes the rain sensor clears after rain sensor swells down an resets. Be sure you’ve set the correct method the sensor uses (normally closed vs normally open).

[ottorino]

I’m travelling so I cannot check the sensor properties. But it must be a clock-related problem. Right now, 15:30 local time, the app report sept 09, 23:59 !!
I’ll keep checking the time on the app from remote.

Edit: definitely a clock problem. Local time 19:14, four hours later: and the app reports sept,10, 02:31. The NTP sync is enabled. Should I disable it ?

GMT is set to +2:00 as it ever was from the start.

[ottorino]

@salbahra wrote:

I think your asking two separate questions at the same time.

This was because I was confused myself !!
I assumed that the date was right.
Actually it was not.
I’ve keep checking it for one day and It was always wrong and weird.

Only after a reboot from remote, the problem disappeared.

I will check again the battery.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=829#p5434
It’s improbable to find two bad batteries in a row, but not impossible.

[Author]

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